


Warrior

by WithUrDirection



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blue Spirit Zuko (Avatar), How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, Unreliable Narrator, zuko deals with his banishment in a slightly different way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:09:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25945615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithUrDirection/pseuds/WithUrDirection
Summary: Zuko saw a mask. He wanted that mask. He needed that mask. He didn’t know why but he knew he was supposed to have it. It was going to hide him, to protect him and let him protect, to allow him to be what his name had never let him be. Why? Zuko didn’t know and yet he had no doubt about it.OrZuko runs away after his banishment and in his journey he becomes a figure of hope and finds his own.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 159





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning, this is purely self-indulgent and English is not my primary language. Also, this is my first work and I really don't know what I'm doing. Other than that... enjoy? I guess?

He didn’t stop.

He pleads and he pleads.

But he didn’t stop. 

Zuko knew he wasn’t the Fire Lords favorite, he knew he was weak, that his bending was barely acceptable and that he was an embarrassment to his family, his Nation. 

But he should have stopped? Right? 

He didn’t know he was offending the Fire Lord when he decided to speak up in the war council. But they wanted to let all those soldiers die, they were going to sacrifice all those lives in the name of a victory for the Fire Nation. 

_Would it be a victory to the Fire Nation if they had to sacrifice the lives of the people of the Fire Nation in order to win? When they would be taking somebody’s son or sister or father or mother in the name of a greater good?_

But that didn't matter in the end, did it? Because in the end, the Fire Lord didn't listen. He didn't listen when he was begging for forgiveness... nor when he begged him to stop. 

_"You will learn respect... and suffering will be your teacher"_

But he was a prince! He was supposed to protect his people, right? Then why had he been punished? why had he been burned? why had he been hurt by the one person that was supposed to protect him? 

He had been banished from his home and given a task that no one has managed to accomplish in the last 100 years. _And yet he still didn’t know what he had done wrong._

_…_

He was warm, and happy, and protected.

Agni was there, watching over him, taking care of him.

Zuko was free. He was running under Agni’s arms, free in a way he had never felt before and safe in the way he was always supposed to be.

Agni looked after him, after one of his sons, the one he had chosen to fight for him. The one that had been hurt by one of their own, who had been punished for being brave where others were not.

He would go back. His warrior would live, and fight, _and thrive._ He would make sure of that.


	2. Chapter 2

Pain.

Everything hurt.

The first time Zuko managed to wake up wasn’t pretty. His head hurt, something was covering his left eye and his uncle was sleeping next to his bed. _What is he doing here? Is he disappointed because I didn’t fight? Will he scream at me too? He did tell me not to speak at the council stupidstupidstupid._ He fell asleep.

He dreamed of the sun warming his skin, offering him his comfort.

The next time he woke up it was to the voice of his uncle and someone else’s.

“…I can’t exactly say how damaged his eye is right now, we need to wait until he wakes up and it is safe to take the bandages off.” 

“But is there any hope that he might be able to see after the wound heals?” His uncle's voice sounded tired, resigned. _He must be tired of dealing with me._

“There’s really no way to know right now, General.”

Zuko dreamed again.

The third time Zuko woke up he was confused. He was alone and he didn’t know where he was. He was sitting in a little bed in a little room with only a little window from where everything was blue. 

“I see you’ve finally woken up, nephew” He didn’t hear his uncle enter. Zuko hadn’t heard the door, he should have been more alert. _Stupidstupidstupid._ “How are you feeling? Do you want me to call the medic?”

“Where are we? Why are we not in the palace? Where’s father?” 

“You should rest nephew, you need to heal. I will go and get you something to eat, we will talk after.” Once Zuko didn’t answer, his uncle left the room. 

Zuko didn’t want to wait, he needed to know what had happened, but he also couldn’t argue with Uncle, _he wasn’t that stupid._ So he counted to ten after his uncle left the room and then he went looking for answers. 

He was clumsy. He wanted to take off his bandages but he wasn’t stupid, he remembered the pain. He managed to get to the deck but there was too much light and there were too many people and he didn't know who they were and _what the hell was he doing?_

“Sir, are you okay? Do you need anything?”

Zuko turned around and found himself in front of a soldier. “Where are we? Whose ship is this?”

The soldier sounds confused. “This is your ship, Prince Zuko. Your father commissioned it for you so you could accomplish your task. I’m not sure where we are exactly but I could take you to the captain if you need to know.”

“My task? What task?” When did his father give him a task? He doesn’t remember his father telling him anything about a task, all he remembers is _the pain and the heat and the smell as his father was burning his face, burning him-_

“Zuko! What are you doing up?! I told you, you need to rest-”

“Uncle, what is my task? Why did father put me in a ship?”

Uncle Iroh looked sad. _Did I disappoint him too?_ “Nephew, let’s go back to your quarters and I’ll explain everything.” 

_Don’targuedon’targuedon’targue._ So he turns to the soldier. “What exactly is my task?” 

The soldier seems uncomfortable and keeps glancing at his uncle. “As I understand it, my Prince, you are supposed to find the avatar.”

Zuko goes back to his quarters when his uncle asks again. There his uncle finally tells him exactly what the consequences of losing the Agni Kai against the Fire Lord were. He tells him of his banishment, of how the Fire Lord will only let him return to his home if he manages to find a being that has been lost for a hundred years, of how he’s become a banished prince and how he’s lost his honor while trying to honor his people, his duty.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow.   
> I wasn't expecting people to actually leave kudos and comments in my story?? Thank you to everyone who decided to give this story a chance!

He had never been good at lying.

It was just another thing he was bad at.

And it hadn’t mattered all that much, but that was before.

Before his uncle started to pretend that everything was fine, that it was completely normal that Zuko had been branded as a failure by his brother, that they were leaving the Fire Nation because they were going to have some wonderful adventure and not because Zuko had been banished, that tea was supposed to be some kind of magic cure that would stop Zuko from waking up screaming when he dreamed of the Fire lord teaching him a lesson.

And so he had started pretending too. 

He pretended he didn’t know it was a waste of time when they spent a whole week exploring the Western Air Temple in search of the Avatar and he pretended to be disappointed when they inevitably found nothing. He pretended he didn’t notice how the crew kept him away from certain places, and he pretended he didn’t find the many skeletons that were on those places after he went to explore on his own after everyone had fallen asleep.

That last one had been harder. He felt like he shouldn’t have been surprised by the fact that a Fire Lord had given the order of killing all those people. Maybe that Fire Lord had also said their deaths would contribute to the greatness of their nation. Knowing that didn't stop Zuko from crying himself to sleep. 

And after that, when they went back to the sea and the medic finally took off his bandages he pretended he wasn’t faced by the scar that covered almost half of his face, he acted like he didn’t see the pitying glances from the medic and his uncle and he didn’t even mention the fact that he didn’t see more than blurs from his damaged eye.

Zuko went to sleep that night knowing that he might never be as good as Azula was at lying, but maybe he could become good enough to survive. 

* * *

He had one of his nice dreams.

One of those where he was under Agni’s care, where he was free to explore the world and help and protect. One where he was able to just be himself, not a prince, not a disappointment, not a failure… just Zuko.

In this one there was a beautiful bird, one made of flames. 

Zuko had to follow her. He didn’t know  _ why _ , he just knew it was really important he followed the bird.

* * *

This was a horrible idea.

Zuko was sure of it and yet he couldn’t tell that to his uncle when he said they would be making a stop at a little Fire Nation village so that the crew could rest, neither did he tell him when he suggested they visited the little village market.

The thing is, Zuko knew it shouldn’t be that bad. 

He knew it wasn’t normal to feel like you were being suffocated just because there were people around you. He was aware that the feeling of numbness that started the first time someone brushed against him wasn’t okay.

But that didn’t matter.

It didn’t change the fact that he was barely aware of where he was because he was too busy avoiding touching the people around him, it didn’t change the fact that they were staring and of course they were staring how could they not when half his face had been melted an-

“Hey buddy, can I help you with something?”

Zuko looked up and found himself in front of a man he didn’t know. Where was uncle? He had been walking with him just now so where had he gone?

“So… you getting anything?”

The man was talking to him and was pointing to the cart in front of him full with little trinkets and a few masks. He was looking around trying to gain time so that he could find his voice and tell the man that  _ no, he didn’t want anything because he was supposed to be above this stupid stuff _ , when his eyes fell in a particular mask. 

One that felt like home.

He knew that mask.

He remembered it from before, from moments shared with his mom watching awful presentations of their favorite play, from those rare moments where he had been allowed to be happy and free. 

He wanted it.

He needed it.

It called to him.

It was his.

* * *

Iroh mourned.

He mourned for the wife that he lost to sickness.

He mourned for the son he lost to his pride.

Recently, he found himself mourning for a kid whose spirit had been a victim of his pain. 

He had fond memories of a little kid laughing with his mother, of a little kid who had never been afraid of speaking his mind, of a child who had been braver than Iroh had ever been and who had been punished because of it.

That kid hadn’t died… he was just lost. He was lost and afraid and hurt, but he wasn’t dead and so Iroh would make sure to do everything in his power to help him find himself again. 

That was, if he managed to find him.

Because of course that the kid who was reluctant to come to the village with him had gotten lost the moment Iroh got distracted with something. He had been right by his side until he wasn’t and even though Iroh was sure he couldn’t have gone far, he felt like he was starting to drown in memories of a different kid being lost to rocks, to earth,  _ to a useless war _ .

His eyes finally found him.

“Nephew! What were you doing alone?! You can’t do that to my old heart!” 

Zuko didn’t react. He was looking transfixed to what happened to be a mask of the Blue Spirit. And just like that Iroh understood.

“Oh! This one was your mother’s favorite, wasn’t it? Were you planning on acquiring one for yourself?”

That finally threw him out of his trance. “What? Oh! Yes. Umm… I would like that one over there.”

After the merchant had given him the mask, Iroh continued “Well, I think is time we had something to eat. I saw a beautiful place right at the end of the road.”

And so they found themselves enjoying their meal at a little inn right where the woods started.

Well, at least Iroh was enjoying it.

“We should go immediately, Uncle. There’s no way we’ll find information regarding the Avatar here.” 

So his nephew had decided to sulk, well, he could work with that. 

“Ahh… you still need to work in your patience, Prince Zuko. Remember that Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”

“But we’ve spent the whole day here! And we didn’t even get anything important! And we shou-“ Zuko appeared to be staring at something in the woods. He seemed perplexed but when Iroh turned around he couldn’t see anything that could cause such a reaction to his nephew. 

“Is everything alright Zuko? Did something happen?”

“Yes! Everything is fine.” Said his nephew, apparently making an effort to keep looking at Iroh and not at the forest. He didn’t say anything for the rest of the meal. 

Right before they left the inn Zuko gave whatever had captured his attention in the woods one last glance.

“Something in your mind, my Prince?”

Zuko shook his head and without another word started his way towards their ship.

Iroh mourned for the kid that had gotten lost in that Agni Kai, but he still had hope.

The next day, when he went looking for his nephew and couldn’t find him, after he asked he whole crew if they knew where the Prince was, after they went looking in the village and found nothing, after all of that, Iroh wondered if he would have to start mourning that hope too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm not completely happy with how Iroh's part of the chapter turned out but I attempted to write it three other times and it wasn't really working so I just had to accept the fact that Iroh's awesomeness was out of my writing skills.
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading!


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